The First Week of School is Always the Hardest
by Ray by Another Name
Summary: The first week of school directly after the epilogue, from Neville's point of view. Sorting is just the beginning...and not everyone is happy about theirs.


The first week of school directly after the epilogue, from Neville's point of view. Sorting is just the beginning...and not everyone is happy about theirs.

Rated K.

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**The First Week of School is Always the Hardest**

Neville hadn't been this nervous for a sorting since his own. A good chunk of his friends had children coming through - and there was just as many wagers on the line. There was a lot of attention on Harry's son, of course, just like last year with James, and on Hermione's daughter. He'd seen odds for both in the Daily Prophet of all places just that morning.

Seamus and Dean's daughter was front row center, confident as a rooster with curly hair bouncing as she took each step. There was a nervous looking Patil boy somewhere in the mass of heads. Hannah had joked about having a bucket beside the stool, at least he thought she was joking. He'd heard the Greengrass sisters had both broken with the recent Durmstang tradition - a Malfoy and a Zabini were in the mix as well.

Honestly, Neville was fairly certain every person from his year had managed to squeeze a kid out for this year's sorting. It was a bit unnerving. And nauseating. Perhaps he would need the bucket.

The Abbott twins were seperated - Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw - and he praised the hat for that, no house could handle both. The Patil boy - who's last name was apparently Brown, who knew - went to Ravenclaw. There were only two new Gryffindors by the time they got to the Ns.

Five minutes in he felt eyes on him. It wasn't uncommon - especially after that chapter on the Battle of Hogwarts had been added to Hogwarts: A History. But when Neville found the culprit, it was short blond haired boy. Eyes bright and mouth firmly set in the widest grin Neville had ever seen. Honestly. It was the size of the kid's head, practically unnatural.

"Malfoy, Scorpius."

Deputy Headmaster McIver managed not to pause uncomfortably on the Malfoy name but there was a slight lilt to it that gave away his nervousness. The room was deafeningly quiet. Even McGonagall sat up a bit.

Scorpius, to his credit, didn't react. He lept up to the stool, buzzing with energy. Smile intact. Neville felt himself grin when the boy looked over at McIver with a nod and a quiet 'thank you, sir' as the hat was lowered onto his head.

Way back in his memory Neville recalled that the hat had barely scrapped over Draco's hair before announcing Slytherin. On young Scorpius they waited almost ten minutes, through out which Scorpius' smile wained.

Neville felt his skin crawl as the boy's eyes grew red. He didn't cry, but when 'Slytherin' rang from the hat's lips Scorpius walked from the stool with considerably less gusto than he had to it.

When he got to the Slytherin table no one greeted him or congratulated him. In fact, McIver was already on to the next child on the list. Another Hufflepuff.

Neville kept an eye on the Malfoy boy. His shoulders were shaking. There was a Weasley in Slytherin. Neville searched the table for a redhead before finding Dominque - who was, in fact, a brunette, dang Weasleys always kept him on his toes. With no small amount of effort he managed to communicateto Dominique to check on the boy via eyes and facial expression. He'd also managed to communicate that message to half the hall and the entirety of the 1st year crowd who remained to be sorted.

"Thomas, Maude."

Neville turned back to the sorting, giving his goddaughter a quick encouraging smile before she sat down. Her grin was tight as the hat was lowered down.

"Hufflepuff!"

The girl skipped off to her table and Neville cheered loudly. At least someone got the house they wanted.

A quick glance over to the Slytherin table - Dom was patting Scorpius' shoulder and whispering lightly to him. The boy was still shaking. Neville frowned.

Harry had told him to keep an eye out for the Malfoy boy, hadn't said why, just that he should. Neville was officially Invested. Capital I. And he hadn't even met the kid. Dang his bleeding heart…

"Potter, Albus."

The whole room quieted again. Albus took slow steps up to the stool. His eyes on his shoes the whole time.

"Slytherin!"

The hat yelled before it had even settled over the boy's dark mop. With bugged eyes and a wide mouth, the Potter practically ran to his cousin at the table.

Dominique looked truly overwhelmed as two distraught boys now sat on either side of her at her table. The other Slytherins looked on with varying degrees of interest. And with the addition of Albus, so did the rest of the school.

McGonagall cleared her throat, "Please continue, Professor McIver."

"Yes, of course!"

McIver got through the rest of the list without much fanfare. Neville was a bit disappointed that he'd gained only four Gryffindors so far - and not a single one from his long list of friends-childs.

"Weasley, Rose."

Neville was pretty sure he caught McGonagall grinning when Hermione's daughter walked confidently up the steps. Her red-tinged hair was pulled back underneath a handkerchief and her freckles were near invisible underneath her dark skin, but there was no hiding the Weasley smirk.

"Slytherin!"

There was no audible gasp as there had been with Dominique, but there was a loud squeal of delight as Rose jumped from the stool. She practically skipped to the Slytherin table before plopping cheerily next to Albus.

Dang. There went the last friends-child. Not a single Gryffindor.

"Zabini, Oliver."

Neville grinned. He'd bet galleons to sickles that the boy was named after Wood. Zabini had bought the Chudley Cannons a year before Oliver won them the World Cup, the first time. Made a nice pile of gold that following autumn from what the Ginny had said. Ron still hadn't shut up about how expensive his season tickets had gotten afterwards.

It was another ten minutes - what was it with the Greengrass kids? - before the hat belted out, "Gryffindor!"

Oliver's face immediately snapped to the Slytherin table - wide eyes and mouth agape. He didn't get off the stool. Neville followed his gaze. Scorpius was sitting up impossibly straight.

Oh~

"This has been a very eventful sorting," Neville leaned over to say to Hagrid, who nodded gruffly as McIver corralled the Zabini kid over to his table. He sat there, but not without throwing the hat on the floor and stomping on it a few times.

McIver was white as a sheet. Neville started laughing beforr he could help himself. The rest of the hall was right there with him.

-.-.-

The first day of classes was always the hardest. Mostly for the sixth years, who were usually unmotived to do much of anything. But this year, this year the prize went to the first years.

Scorpius finished half his sentences before he did. Rose continually mocked him for it. Albus was basically catatonic. And Maude?! Merlin's beard. She was adopted, how in the hell did she inherit Seamus' ability to light everything on fire! How?!

His poor greenhouse…

The Abbott twins had apparently covinced their houses to conspire against him, even Sage Brown was chanting 'no home, no homework.'

For the first time in, probably centuries, the Gryffindors were the well behaved students. All wide-eyed and skittish like regular first years. Except Zabini. Neville wasn't even going to think about what that monster had done to his potted ferns.

His poor greenhouse.

Why did he become a teacher? Neville couldn't remember. Not even with his favorite tea and his comfiest chair.

His heart nearly stopped at the knock on his office door. He looked at it carefully for a moment. Another tentative knock.

"Come in," Neville dropped his feet of the table. No need to teach anyone bad habits.

In walked Scorpius Malfoy. He took very determined steps up to Neville, rolled his shoulders back, opened his mouth, and then nothing. Literally nothing. He seemed completely frozen.

"Mr. Malfoy, did you need something?"

Neville had no idea how he kept his voice so light. Really, he was still a little salty about his ferns and Scorpius hadn't exactly been an easy student either.

"I…" Scorpius swallowed, "I wanted to apologize." Neville blinked. Scorpius plowed on, keeping eye contact the whole time, "I spoke out of turn in class today. I was really excited and I wanted to impress you, but I acted rudely. So I wanted to apologize and tell you that I'm going to be better tomorrow."

Neville blinked again, "Thank you, Scorpius, I appreciate you coming to talk to me. The first day can be difficult for everyone, so don't feel too bad."

Scorpius grinned, his cheeks a bit pink, "Do you mean Ollie?" Neville just smiled. Deep down he was nodding feverishly. "He's just mad we're in the wrong houses."

"Wrong houses?"

Excuse me! Gryffindor is never the wrong house!

"Yeah, I wanted to be a Gryffindor," Scorpius frowned, his brow furrowing, "The hat said I'm meant to do great things though and that my lofty goals will be better served in Slytherin." He shook his head, tried to smile, "Ollie's wanted to be in Slytherin forever though - like his mom. He's really mad that he didn't get to be in her house."

"I see," Neville nodded, he gestured to the seat across from him. Scorpius lit up like a candle and perched himself on the highback chair. Stellar posture. Neville leaned forward, spoke lightly, "I wanted to be a Hufflepuff myself."

"Really?!" Scorpius was gaping, "But… my dad says you're more Gryffindor then Albus Dumbledore or Godric himself!"

Neville had no idea what to do with that information. He was fairly positive Draco Malfoy had just complimented him, by proxy, by accident.

"I was quite shy as a child," Neville shrugged, "And had less than zero self-confidence. I was certain I had only gotten into Hogwarts by mistake."

Scorpius was now staring with utter horror in his eyes. "But.." he sputtered, "But your Neville Longbottom! The best herbologist on the planet!"

Ok. Blushing was happening. Scorpius was now listing all of his accomplishments. None of which seemed to include his fighting Voldemort - which was pretty awesome, because some had said that was the whole reason behind…well, everything.

"Remind me to take you up to meet McGonagall next time I ask for a raise," Neville grinned at thr boy, who immediately went redder than a Weasley. "The hat has got a really good track record, so give it a while. Slythering may not be Gryffindor, but they've been kicking our butts at quidditch the last few years and I'm told that's a big factor in a house's coolness level."

Scorpius started giggling, "Oliver will hate that!"

The school bell rang, signalling that dinner was starting. Scorpius immediately jumped up.

"Oh! I have to go, professor!" He was running out he door quicker than Neville could open his mouth, "See you tomorrow!"

Oh dear. He had to teach again tomorrow… Would Sprout come out of retirement if he faked his death? No… she wouldn't fall for that.

-.-.-

Rose Weasley was all the intelligence of her mother and the attitude of her father. Which, basically, meant every teacher got corrected and her homework was never done. Three notes had already been sent to her parents.

The first week of school was finally over though and Neville was not moving from this barstool for the night. Hannah had already brought him dinner - a bag of his favorite honeydukes chocolate. His wife was awesome.

"So I hear Rosie's been nothing but trouble this week?" Ron sounded far too amused as he slid onto the stool beside him at the Three Broomsticks.

The smug bastard had been in Hogsmeade all week working at the 3Ws and hadn't responded to a single note.

"I hope McGonagall sends you a howler," Neville took a drink of his butterbeer. He had the last patrol of the night - early tomorrow morning.

Ron started laughing, "Just throw her in detention. Eventually she'll get the message."

"Did you even read the notes?" Rose was booked solid in detention for the next month. And she'd seemed quite pleased about it when Albus pointed it out.

The answering shrug and the order of some butterbeer were swift and uninterested.

"So what d'ya think of the Malfoy boy?"

Neville narrowed his eyes on the redhead, "Why?"

Ron shrugged, "Curious." Lies. Ron was a horrible liar. Worse than Harry even.

"He's very energetic and enthusiastic." Neville watched Ron closed as he spoke and noticed the smirk immediately, "Ronald Weasley!"

"Not the teacher voice," Ron chortled, "I'll tell ya."

Neville raised an eyebrow as Ron turned in his seat, grinnig ear to ear.

"Heard from Harry a few months back." Ron nodded his thanks as his butterbeer was delivered and nicked a chocolate from Neville's bag. "Apparently Scorpius has a little hero worship for ya."

"Hero worship?" Neville blushed. That did explain Scorpius' knowledge of his background. "Well, hope I don't disappoint."

Ron snorted, "As if." Ron threw back his head to swallow back half his drink, "He make Gryffindor?"

"Nah," Neville shook his head, "Slytherin. I got Zabini though. Neither of them is pleased."

Ron shrugged, "Yeah, Harry told me Albus was really worried 'bout the sorting himself. Rosie hasn't so much as sent us a letter herself."

"She's Slytherin. The only one who seemed excited about it, actually. Whole room was shocked."

Neville enjoyed the frozen horror on Ron's face. Payback was always so satisfying.

"Poor Dominique had no clue what she was getting into as a prefect," Neville continued without pause. "I feel worse for Molly, of course. She's got Zabini to look after."

Eventually Ron shook himself back into a jovial state - probably by blocking the issue from his mind - and leaned forward with half his lip pulled upward.

"What exactly is so bad about Zabini?"

Neville looked down his nose at Ron, force in his eyes, "He nearly destroyed my greenhouse and McIver has reported that he lit his Charms book on fire in protest. Which Clara Abbott jumped on as part of her homework protest."

"I've heard Hannah talk about her nieces…" Ron went pale, "George baned them from the shop in Diagon Alley."

"Not surprised," Neville sighed, looking down at his now empty goblet of butterbeer. "I wish I didn't have to patrol later. I could do with some firewhiskey."

Ron nudged him with his elbows, "That's what the Pep-Up chewies are for Longbottom." He flagged down the young bartender, "Two Firewhiskey!"

Neville laughed as Ron downed the last of his butterbeer in a swift slurp and whiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

"I suppose one won't be too much of an issue."

Three firewhiskeys, a flaggon of mead, and two Pep-Up chewies later Neville was walking the halls of Hogwarts with a churning belly and a raging headache. He hadn't even slept yet.

"Curse you, Ronald Weasley," Neville grumbled as he flicked his wand at a few doors. They burst open. A pair of sixth years scurried out of one of thr empty classrooms.

He didn't bother checking for their houses, he just let them run off as he continued down the hallways. Another two flicks. He closed the doors as he passed and opened the next set. No scurries this time.

It was only an hour till sunrise. He didn't understand the appeal of sneaking out this close to breakfast.

"Hello Professor Longbottom!"

Merlin's beard.

"Mister Malfoy," Neville paused in the hallway and pressed the heel of his hand into his eye socket, "Are you aware that it is past curfew?"

Scorpius Malfoy was standing in the center of the hallway, not overly far from the Hufflepuff dormitories. He was wearing his uniform - which was only slightly askew - and had his bookbag slung over his shoulder.

And he was nodding.

"Technically, I'm up before curfew." Scorpius grinned and his ears went a stunning shade of pink that reminded Neville of Ron.

Evil Ron. Who bought him firewhiskey before rounds.

Neville sighed, "Scorpius -"

"I understand if you have to take house points away. Rose told me that was a possibility."

"II'm going to kill Ron," Neville muttered, before stooping down to look at Scorpius in the eye, "And why did Rose tell you that?"

"Because I'm the lookout."

"I think you're the distraction, Scorpius," Neville pursed his lips. Scorpius shrugged, still smiling.

"Either way. It's nice to be included," Scorpius puckered his lips, "Besides, Albus agreed to get me an apple tart and some orange juice. So, it's basically a fair trade."

Ah. Swiping food from the kitchens before breakfast. As first years. James and Fred by damned, Rose Weasley was carrying the torch of her uncles far more successfully.

"One - you're a terrible lookout." Neville stood, waved his hand for Scorpius to follow, and continued towards the kitchen. "Two - never trust a Weasley when they're smirking." Scorpius trailed along behind him. He even pulled out a notebook and a pencil, "Are you taking notes?" The boy nodded. "Okay. Three - If the plan involves you getting caught, not a good plan."

Scorpius was scribbling furiously, the paper nearly touching his nose. The muggle items were interesting, especially on a Malfoy.

"Four -" Neville tickled the pear, "Breakfast starts in two hours, so this was silly from the start."

Scorpius looked up at him with a raised eyebrow. The Draco resemblance had never been stronger.

"Question?" Neville asked as he stepped through the portrait hole.

"Well," Scorpius spoke slowly, "We didn't…just get here…is all."

That. Was an understatment.

The house elfs reported six missing trays of pastries and three jugs of juices. And that was just as a complaint - they were certain more was missing, but they were already behind schedule.

"This is the third time already, sir," the Head Elf spoke rapidly as she scrambled some eggs. She was scowling and Neville was a tad worried about how vigorously she was stiring the pan.

"I wasn't aware," Neville gritted his teeth, "I'll be sure to speak with the Headmistress immediately."

The elf nodded briskly, sending Scorpius a stink eye, "See that you do."

Neville hustled the blonde out the door.

"Has Rose been stealing from the kitchen all week?!" Neville spun around to face Scorpius, hands in the air. Scorpius smiled nervously, lips twitching and ears red. "Curse you, Ron Weasley…"

The ceiling did not answer him and Neville whisked Scorpius back to his dorm before making the trek up to McGonagall's office.

"At this hour, Longbottom, what could-"

"Rose Weasley."

McGonagall waved him in to her office. She was encased in a fluffy robe and had pins of some sort on her hair. Neville gulped as she sat at her desk - back straight, neck long, and eyebrow raised.

"I've just come from the kitchen," Neville stood in front of her desk, "They've had three early mornig thefts this week apparently. The latest was today."

"Three?" McGonagall raised a hand to her brow, "It's only the first week of school."

"Yes, the House Elves were not pleased."

McGonagall's eyebrow raised even higher, a truly severe expression.

"I only discovered the theft because Scorpius Malfoy is, well, either he's a fantastic get away distraction or a terrible look out. I'm not certain at this point."

"I thought you said this was Rose Weasley?"

McGonagall leaned forward on her desk, clasping her hands together over the dark wood.

"And Albus Potter." Neville added, "From what Scorpius told me. Albus promised him apple tarts and orange juice apparently."

"I had worried," McGonagall sighed, face collapsing a bit as she leaned back in her chair, "Ms. Granger has mentioned that Rose wanted to prove herself here at school, make a name for herself apart from the family."

Neville rolled his eyes, "She's certainly doing that."

"Go wake Solestra, have her bring all three to my office immediately."

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Reference of Scorpius's hero worship is from my other fic, An Old Crush.

Thanks for reading! Reviews Appreciated!


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